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One of the most common conditions I manage in primary care is depression. Occasionally, this is a person’s chief complaint when they make an appointment, but more often than not, I find out about this through routine screening. I made the decision while I was at my first clinic to have my medical assistant administer the PHQ-2 (Patient Health Questionnaire 2) to all my patients, and I’ve continued it at my current practice because I find it so valuable.

Hello! I hope you had a nice holiday weekend! Since Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial kick-off to summer, I’m back today with a post focused on an acute issue that’s common in pediatric practices over the summer and into the early fall – hand-foot-and-mouth disease!

This acute viral illness tends to affect children under 5, though older children and adults can get it too. So what is it?

Hello and Happy Friday! I hope you have something fun planned for this long weekend — if you get a long weekend! Not working holidays is one of my favorite things about being in primary care! But I digress… on to a quick post about the most common cause of vaginal discharge in women of reproductive age: bacterial vaginosis. I see a LOT of BV in my current practice. And note: it’s vaginosis, not vaginitis – there’s no inflammation involved in BV.[Read more…] about It Smells Fishy in Here! Evaluation & Management of Bacterial Vaginosis

Last week I had my first opportunity to see and manage acute paronychia in clinical practice. The patient came in with pain and swelling around the cuticle of the middle finger of his left hand, and it looked a lot like this:

Happy Monday! I’m back today with another medication profile post. Today we’ll talk about chlorthalidone, which is another first-line agent for hypertension. Like last time when we discussed amlodipine, there’s a downloadable PDF file for you at the end of this post for you to add to your reference library if you’d like. So let’s get going!

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Welcome!

Hi There! I'm so glad you're here! I'm Cheryl, and I'm the novice NP. I'm a nurse practitioner in Virginia and I've been in practice for a little over a year, but am still new(ish) to the world of health care and hope to share what I'm learning here. xo Cheryl